Brutal (22 page)

T
ilak Jaiswal stood
on the small balcony of his room, admiring the contrast between the serene night sky above and the frenetic rush of traffic below. A similar contrast existed between his expressionless face and his mind getting restless to do the job. A Beretta 92FS handgun was lodged in the small of his back, covered thinly by the leather jacket he was wearing. Three magazines loaded with 9mm Luger rounds were bulging up the pockets of his jacket.

His mobile phone started ringing. The call was from the same man who had supplied him his kit at the hotel. Tilak picked it up and let him speak first.

“I think they’ve got wind of the attack,” the man whispered. He sounded a bit unnerved. “None of them came down for dinner. They were huddled up in Room 704 till now. I’ve a hunch that they have got some protection from outside.”

“We’ve discussed that possibility already,” Tilak said, his eyes tracing a cyclist carrying his cycle in his hands to get out of the traffic. “If there’s anyone from Mossad, we’ll soon know.”

“There is no ‘we’ now. I’ve done my job. I’ve placed your stuff in their rooms. I’ve given you your weapons. You also have the keys for the fire exit and the kitchen exit. So, I’m going dark now.”

“OK. But be on standby. And destroy your phone and SIM card only after the mission is over.”

“Fine. And Good luck.”

V
inod and Sultan
were up to something, he could sense it. Vinod was avoiding him, talking to unknown people using a phone different from his own. Had he secretly struck a deal with the Quds Force? He clasped his fingers hard, nails digging into his skin.
Why, son, why?

Vinod could not do all this by himself. That Sultan guy had to be involved. The son-of-a-bitch had gone dark, possibly flown to Bangalore, as informed by a loyalist. This was a worrying development. He summoned his son immediately.

T
he door
of his room opened. It was Vinod. “You wanted to talk to me, father?”

“What’s going on behind my back?” Tejeshwar growled.

“I didn’t get you,” Vinod said with a blank face.

Tejeshwar stared at Vinod for a few seconds. His son was trying to avoid eye contact. That was a sign of his complicity.

“I’m your father, Vinod. I’ve run Bastion Corp and all our operations for more than twenty-five years. Now that I’ve allowed you to take over does not mean I can’t run it again.” Tejeshwar raised his voice. “So, DON’T you dare feign ignorance before me. Why is Sultan in Bangalore?”

“I don’t know. He might’ve some meeting with a client,” Vinod replied, evading his father’s eyes again.

Tejeshwar shook his head with disgust. Vinod was lying through his teeth.
You’re compelling me, son.
He tightened his jaws and said, “Do you remember the names Durganath Kushwaha and Madhavkant Kushwaha?”

“Where is that coming from?” Vinod said in a sarcastic and almost dismissive way.

“ANSWER ME!”

Vinod stared at him with narrowed eyes. “Madhavkant was your grandfather and Durganath…”

“Was my great-grandfather,” Tejeshwar said. “They were the men who started our family and our business. Do you know how we became the most feared family in the country?”

“I know. So?”

“You know? Really?”

“Well… some
zamindar
stuff you have told a few times…”

“Hear it again, son. You deserve to know. My great-grandfather Durganath used to be a rich zamindar in Bihar decades before India got independent. But, his life was not a bed of roses like yours. He went through a very tough period. On one hand, the British were arm-twisting him for indigo plantation in his lands. On the other, his own uncles and cousins were plotting against him because of an old land dispute. Those days, being weak meant being marked for death. He had to defend himself. He raised an army of fighters and stockpiled weapons…”

“So what? He still died,” Vinod interjected.

Tejeshwar sighed. “He was murdered. Surprisingly, it took only one assassin, and not an army of them to kill him. They hung his body on a tree and let it rot for days. His whole family was slain. His son Madhavkant was the lone survivor, who somehow managed to escape in the dead of the night.” He looked at Vinod’s face for any reaction. He appeared confused.

T
ejeswar continued
, “Madhavkant was only eighteen then. But he had a very shrewd mind. He understood very well that the real power existed in the ‘quality’ of his protectors and not in the ‘quantity’. He travelled across India recruiting the best assassins money could get. When he returned to his lands three years later, he had a bunch of extremely deft and ruthless killers with him. Do you know what he did with the relatives who had usurped his land?”

“He killed them by…” Vinod’s voice trailed off.

“By?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“
H
e cut
off their limbs and tied their heads to poles in a cow-shed. They bled to death painfully. Some died in a day, some died in a week. He didn’t spare even women and children.”

Tejeshwar looked into the eyes of his son in the same way he looked at his foot-soldiers who had committed a grave sin and were about to vanish. Vinod, however, returned his gaze. Tejeshwar said, “You must be wondering why I am telling you this story?”

Vinod continued staring at him.

“
B
ecause I wanted
you to know that a trait of ruthlessness runs in our family. One moment you are family and the next moment you’re not,” Tejeshwar growled.

He could sense a streak of fear in Vinod’s eyes.

He continued, his voice loud and commanding this time, “When I refused the deal with the Quds Force, I wanted you to accept my decision. But you didn’t. You decided to circumvent the old man and play your own game behind my back. The sad part is that you’re still playing the game, this time in front of me.”

Tejeshwar’s eyebrows curved and his lips became rounded as if a dragon was about to spit fire. “Don’t bring out the ruthless animal in me, Vinod. I don’t want my son to pay dearly. So, without any fucking around, you are going to tell me what you are doing at the nuclear summit.”

Vinod looked scared. He said sheepishly, “I’ve struck the deal with the men from Quds Force. The attack on Israeli nuclear scientists has already begun in Bangalore.”

Tejeshwar closed his eyes and heaved a long sigh. “Indian law enforcement authorities are going to come after us. Israel and their ally, US – both might come after us as well. Son, you have jeopardized our international business.”

“No such thing is going to happen,” Vinod said defiantly. “Everybody is going to blame Iran, even if they deny.”

“What if any of our men are caught?”

“Don’t worry. Not many are involved here.”

“How many? Ten?”

“Much lesser than that,” Vinod replied with a smirk.

“Are you kidding me? How exactly are our men going to accomplish this mission?”

“If everything goes as I planned, they don’t need to do anything.”

“How so?”

“Because we won’t use men to accomplish our mission. We’ll use something else – NB-67,” he said with a cunning smile. “You can call it one of the most lethal weapons ever created. It makes you kill. Mercilessly. In cold blood.”

Tejeshwar was aghast. He looked into his son’s eyes. They were bulging out. If eyes could kill and then let out a scary laugh, they wouldn’t look much different than Vinod’s. He had seen those disturbing eyes somewhere.
Where?

V
inod was
no longer looking at him. He was talking to himself. “You can’t even imagine how powerful a weapon we’ve got. Think of what will happen if NB-67 is injected into the bodies of soldiers in an enemy’s army. They will massacre their own people. And there’s no way you can detect it in advance just by looking at their faces. One moment you are jolly and cheerful, and the next moment you’re a wild beast. The drug reacts slowly, but decisively. The result will be that we’ll win wars without ever firing a single bullet.”

He continued, “Your empire looks very small in comparison to what I imagine it to be in the future. I have a solid and a liquid formulation of NB-67 ready. It can be added into food. It can be added into water. Soon we’ll have an aerosol formulation also. Imagine the power we’re going to wield. NB-67can be dumped in a reservoir. It can be released in an airport, in a theatre, in a railway station. It will create havoc. Hell, it’ll bring nations to their knees.”

Tejeshwar’s gulped a mouthful of saliva. The trait of ruthlessness he had talked about was right there, in Vinod’s eyes. And he could now recall where he had seen that look – on TV, on the face of a Syrian rebel who had ripped out the heart of a Syrian soldier and dug his teeth into it.

P
rakash drummed
his fingers uneasily on the car window. Their car had been stuck in the traffic for the last twenty minutes. He was lost in his thoughts when his phone started ringing. It was a strange number. He picked up the call with hesitation.

“It’s Chetan. I’m using a secure line. Listen to me carefully. I’ve dug out some info after our call. Massoud Fallahi, a case officer of the Quds Force, was in India a week ago. Nobody knew why. There were a lot of dots which needed to be connected.”

“And have you connected them now?”

“Not completely. But what I have is interesting. A few months back, a couple of Quds Force agents were held in Kenya. They were planning a bomb attack against US and British targets. Similarly, in Bangkok last year, a magnetic car bomb attack planned by them was foiled. The Israeli embassy was a probable target. What’s common to both these incidents is a man. A mastermind who had visited these countries a few weeks prior to these incidents. It turns out that Massoud Fallahi was the man.”

“So my hypothesis is correct, then?”

“Iranians plotting an attack against Israelis at the nuclear summit? Yes, it’s quite probable. Just a word of caution for you – you’re dealing with some really dangerous people. So, watch your back,” Chetan said and hung up.

He told Seema about his discussion with Chetan.

“But the big question is – how are they going to carry out this attack?” Seema asked, biting her lips in confusion. “Our government has strengthened the security outside the hotel after the news of the Iranian scientist’s death. I don’t think anyone can carry out a 26/11 Mumbai style attack now.”

“That’s true. We can safely rule out an attack from outside the hotel,” he said. After thinking for a few moments, he continued, “That leaves us with two possibilities. One, the attack will be from inside. And two, the attack will take place once the summit is over and the Israelis are out of the hotel. Maybe on their way to the airport. However, I am doubtful of the second possibility.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think our government will let them go without any security cover, especially with a threat looming over them. There’ll definitely be a convoy and a security detail. Besides, the car in which they’ll travel would also be checked for any explosive devices. The only place where our government can’t get in is into the privacy of their hotel rooms.”

“Hmmm… You might be right. But for an attack to take place now, the perps would have to be inside the hotel already,” said Seema.

“That’s scary… and surprising too. How can anybody plan this attack so fast? You know, reconnoitring the area, planning this mission, mobilizing the assassins – all needs time.”

“What’s your point?”

“I mean when did the Iranian scientist die?”

“Yesterday.”

“Exactly. In other words, close to the beginning of this summit. Isn’t it?” Prakash reasoned. “So, let’s assume that Iran is really pissed off with Israel and decides to retaliate. How many hours do they have for planning and preparing for this attack? 24 hours? Maybe a few more. The question which demands an answer now is – how can anyone strategize and carry out such a sophisticated attack in 24 hours?”

“It means the attack was planned much in advance.”

“That seems to be the only plausible explanation. But, it is then a coincidence that an Iranian scientist dies just before an attack on the Israeli ones? Or has Iran killed its own scientist to gain sympathy before retaliating?”

“That’s ridiculous. Scientists are not expendable,” Seema said.

“It leaves us with one more possibility then. And it’s scary…,” Prakash stopped midway in his sentence.

Seema didn’t say anything. She just kept looking at Prakash with questioning eyes.

Prakash continued, “That a third party has killed the Iranian scientist. Ruling out any coincidences, it’s someone who knows about Iran’s plans against Israel. How about the Kushwahas?”

“Why would they do that?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll soon find out who these guys are and what exactly they are trying to achieve. They’re running deadly drug trials. They’ve a lot of thugs and professional killers on their payroll. And now, they’re planning an attack of international ramifications. These bastards are quite ambitious.”
Miss you Mrinal. You could’ve dug up something on this family. Hope you’re safe.

Seema looked a bit unsettled, probably from a sudden realization. “I’ve an ominous feeling about what these people are going to do. While I was a guinea pig for The Doctor, I asked him his objective behind all these inhuman trials. He refused to tell me. But now, I think I can understand his motives. Why would a family of killers want to have a deadly drug in their repertoire? … Because they want to use it as a weapon. I can recall what the drug did to me. It made me lose control of myself totally. It was as if a murderous rage had engulfed me. Of a sort you can associate with primeval cave dwellers. It was pure horror,” said Seema, shuddering with an inner fear.

“A weapon? … Sounds creepy.”

“Yes. It’s deadly.”

“Deadlier than the chemical warfare agents we hear about. VX, Sarin, Tabun are nerve agents which only kill. NB-67 is something which makes you kill,” said Prakash. “But I still don’t get your point. What’s your foreboding all about?”

“That they’re going to use NB-67 today.”